restaurants

A sign at the Westside Diner in Flint, Mich., reassures customers that it serves uncontaminated water pulled from Detroit's drinking supply.

Tests Say The Water Is Safe. But Flint's Restaurants Still Struggle

5:46pm March 08, 2016

by Cheryl Corley

The tap draws from Lake Huron. Eatery owners have bought ice, bottles and expensive filters. Large signs in windows post lead-free test results. But diners in this Michigan city are still leery.

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Marriage proposals are pretty routine at America's high-end restaurants. They can lift the mood in the entire dining room, boost tips and create lifelong customers. Unless the answer is "no," that is.

National

Dinner With A Side Of I Do's: For Restaurants, Proposals Are Good Business

7:00am February 13, 2016

by Alan Greenblatt

Marriage proposals are pretty routine at America's high-end restaurants. They can lift the mood in the entire dining room, boost tips and create lifelong customers. Unless the answer is "no," that is.

Chef Eric Ziebold (center left) works with his kitchen staff at CityZen in Washington, D.C., in 2012. CityZen closed in 2014 when Ziebold left to open his own restaurant.

'Chasing An Ideal,' World-Class Chefs Find Themselves Under Extreme Pressure

3:51pm February 04, 2016

by NPR Staff

Chef Eric Ziebold discusses the high-stakes world of luxe cuisine in the wake of the death of Benoit Violier, a French Swiss chef who many said was the best in the world.

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Protesters gather at a McDonald's to ask for higher wages on April 15, 2015 in Miami Gardens, Fla. Food labor advocate Saru Jayaraman writes in a new book that the company has taken the "low road" and lobbied extensively for lower wages and working condit

Health & Safety

'Forked' Rates Restaurants On How They Treat Their Workers

3:45pm February 02, 2016

by Tracie McMillan

More restaurants are offering better wages, benefits and working conditions for employees. A new book rates dozens of restaurants and scolds the ones taking the "low road" to profitability.

Chef Benoit Violier, whose Restaurant Hotel de Ville in Crissier, Switzerland, was named the No. 1 restaurant in the world, was found dead in what police say has the appearance of a suicide.

World News

One Of The World's Greatest Chefs Is Found Dead In His Swiss Home

2:50pm February 01, 2016

by Bill Chappell

The timing has set off memories of Bernard Loiseau, the legendary French chef who committed suicide in 2003 and was known as a perfectionist who fretted over his restaurant's ratings.

The cucamelon is a tiny cucumber that looks like a watermelon.

Meet The Most Pampered Vegetables In America

12:20pm January 25, 2016

Chef's Garden is a farm in Ohio growing vegetables to the specifications of the world's top chefs. It's a place where vegetables are artistic materials painstakingly tended and handled like jewels.

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The Big Bite Burger from Guy's American Kitchen and Bar in New York's Times Square. In 2012, New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells penned an infamous takedown of the restaurant.

'Times' Restaurant Critic Dishes On Guy Fieri And The Art Of Reviewing

11:44am January 22, 2016

Restaurant critic Pete Wells tries to keep the customer in mind with all of his reviews. "We show awful lot of deference to chefs in our culture and maybe not enough deference to customers," he says.

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Matthew Secich's wife, Crystal, behind the sausage counter at the deli they opened in Unity, Maine.

Chef Trades Toque For Amish Beard, Opens Off-The-Grid Deli In Maine

6:25pm January 18, 2016

by Jennifer Mitchell

A Chicago chef tired of the kitchen grind moved his family to join an Amish community in Maine. He's now selling charcuterie and cheese from a cabin in the woods.

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There may be a shift occurring in our willingness to eat alone that has to do with the pleasure and power of food itself.

Books
Arts

Why Eating Out Alone Doesn't Have To Be Lonely

3:32pm November 11, 2015

by Jill Neimark

More Americans are eating alone — at restaurants and at home. Writer Simran Sethi argues in a new book that eating alone can be a courageous act that deepens appreciation of food and place.

A slew of Yelp reviewers said they got sick after eating at Mariscos San Juan #3 restaurant in San Jose, Calif. The county health department quickly closed the restaurant and identified an outbreak involving more than 80 cases of food poisoning.

Yelp Reviews Can Take Food Poisoning Viral

2:20pm October 23, 2015

by Barbara Feder Ostrov

Some public health researchers say consumer review sites like Yelp might just help them identify and investigate food poisoning outbreaks. But is the information reliable?